Aug. 24, 2015 – Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

“At last, acceptance proved to be the key to my drinking problem. …When I stopped living in the problem and began living in the answer, the problem went away. From that moment on, I have not had a single compulsion to drink.” – Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, “They Stopped in Time,” Ch 17 (“Doctor, Alcoholic, Addict”), pp 448-49.

Today, after living so long in the problem of drinking, let me understand that now, as an alcoholic who does not drink, I am free to live in the answer – sobriety. By living in sobriety, I am free of fighting the temptation to drink again, free of the fear of being caught and of shame, anger, resentment, loneliness and hopelessness. The problem of drinking offers no freedom; the answer of sobriety does. Let me think and re-think until I understand the fine line between living in the problem of resisting temptation to drink and living in the answer of sobriety and, in understanding, I can begin to loosen the problem’s grip on me and embrace the answer. And the answer is AA and the principles it suggests. Today, I no longer have to fight or live with the problem; I have an answer. And our common journey continues. Step by step. – Chris M., 2015